On May 25, Medical Economics reported that motivating patients to maintain their health, particularly those with diabetes, is essential for primary care physicians to be successful under Medicare payment reform.
“When you give people specifics, I really feel that this makes a difference,” said Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, M.D., an internist in Atlanta. “I try to use the office visit as an opportunity to not only talk about what they need to do, but also how they can do it.” Fryhofer and other experts provided 9 tips for improving outcomes and care coordination.
- Talk about diabetes management even when the purpose of a patient visit is unrelated to diabetes.
- Improve communication skills to help patients keep taking positive action.
- Schedule frequent follow-up visits to keep patients on track.
- Focus on care coordination to ensure a higher Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) score.
- Try holding group visits to allow certain tasks to be completed for multiple patients at one time and build camaraderie among the group.
- Consider hiring a care coordinator to provide regular and frequent patient outreach, which is critical for patients with diabetes.
- Use your electronic health record to its fullest capacity to coordinate patient care.
- Think creatively to motivate patients to make healthy choices.
- Educate your patients about the positive effects of exercise and eating healthy.
Click here to read the article in its entirely and additional detail related to each of the nine tips.
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